An Irish-American song for St. Patrick’s Day, 1898.
Words and music by George L. Giefer.
This Tin Pan Alley song is a caricature. In the early days of the 20th century each ethnic group took its turn being made fun with. The lyrics are sometimes edited to remove the elements of the song that are disparaging.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment:
Lyrics
- Mistress Murphy gave a party just about a week ago
Everything was plentiful the Murphy’s they’re not slow
They treated us like gentlemen we tried to act the same
Only for what happened well it was an awful shame
When Mrs. Murphy dished the chowder out
She fainted on the spot
She found a pair of overalls at the bottom of the pot
Tim Nolan he got ripping mad his eyes were bulging out
He jumped up on the piano and loudly he did shout
Chorus
Who threw the overalls in Mrs Murphy’s chowder?
Nobody spoke so he shouted all the louder
It’s an Irish trick that’s true
I can lick the mick that threw
The overalls in Mistress Murphy’s chowder
- They dragged the pants from out the soup
And laid them on the floor
Each man swore upon his life he’d ne’er seen them before
They were plastered up with mortar
And were worn out at the knee
They had their many ups and downs as we could plainly see
And when Mrs. Murphy she came to she ‘gan to cry and pout
She had them in the wash that day and forgot to take them out
Tim Nolan he excused himself for what he said that night
So we put music to the words and sang with all our might
Sung here by Fred Feild: